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President: Rob Schimmelpfennig Executive Vice President: Judy Robson Vice President: Mike Fedler Vice President: Bill Kline Treasurer: Rich Vanek Secretary: Debbi Waring BOARD MEMBERS: Baerbel Baginski, WSL Steve Candella Neroy Carter Arnie Esterer Adele Herzog Mary Ellen Higley Ken Johnson Mark Jones Randy Jones Gloria Kaull Kim Laurello Ed Looman Chris McClure Tom Picken Scot Sinkler Linda VanBuren Joseph Varckette Ellen Winer Phyllis Duffy-Zala | ||||
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Executive Director Cindy Rimpela Business Manager Pamela Hammond Public Relations/Marketing Coordinator Shelagh Dubsky Dance Coordinator Lyn Savarise Music Coordinator Meeghan Humphrey Visual Arts Coordinator Phil Mullet Technical Liason Joe Ford Maintenance Coordinator Marquitta Mollick Evening Desk Coordinator | ||||
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 2928 West 13th St. Ashtabula, Ohio 44004 phone: 440-964-3396 |
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Posted: Friday, June 22, 2007
Cara Seymour was a little girl who dreamed of becoming a dancer, came to the Arts Center to study, and grew through the years, into an extremely talented young woman. Staff members remember her as a little girl, coming in for her weekly dance lessons. She has been dancing for almost as long as she can remember. This Lakeside High School senior knew what she wanted at an early age when she first saw “Clara” dance across the stage in “Nutcracker.” Since then, she has studied hard, setting goals and achieving them one at a time. Audiences have been watching her perform in “Nutcracker” for most of her growing up years. In 2005, Cara participated in a mentorship program with the professional company, Verb Ballet in Cleveland. A year later, she completed a 7-week program at the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater in New York. Then her thoughts turned to making plans for what she would do after her high school graduation this year. After auditioning in Chicago for the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater which offers a bachelors of fine arts program with Fordham University in New York and also applying to Lines Ballet with Dominican University in San Francisco, Dance Coordinator Shelagh Dubsky suggested that Cara try for Julliard School of Dance. After much hard work and many stressful days, Cara submitted an academic recommendation, a dance instructor recommendation, a dance photo and a resume of her training and performance experience to Julliard and was soon invited to the Chicago audition. Julliard only accepts 12 dancers a year and Cara was competing with other top dancers from all across the United States. Even to get as far as the audition process was a huge accomplishment. But get through the audition process she did! And just a few weeks ago she got the thrilling news--she was accepted to Julliard and will soon be leaving to begin her studies in New York! Everyone at the Arts Center couldn’t be more thrilled or more proud of this talented young woman! Congratulations and Best Wishes for a bright and beautiful future! |
Posted: Thursday, June 21, 2007
Ohio Arts Council Residency Grant Brought Inlet Dance Theatre to the Arts Center! Through a grant from the Ohio Arts Council, artistic director, Bill Wade and two dancers from Inlet Dance Theatre taught a two-week dance residency for the Ashtabula Arts Center and three schools in the Ashtabula City School's After School Discovery “Celebrate” Program--Thurgood Marshall, Chestnut and McKinsey Elementary Schools. Formed by Founder & Artistic Director, Bill Wade in 2001, Inlet Dance Theatre is one of the region's most exciting professional contemporary dance companies dedicated to performing with a high level of quality, skill, innovation and purpose. Education programming is a core component of their mission. They foster a year-round educational environment where students of all ages, backgrounds and skill levels go for instruction and also expand the reach of their education programs by traveling out into the community. Goals include engaging, mentoring and training students of all ages and skill levels to use dance as a means to develop self-discipline, teamwork, body awareness, physical fitness and self-confidence. Formerly, Wade worked as an artist in residence for the Cleveland School of the Arts where he founded the nationally-recognized and awarded after school program YARD - Youth At Risk Dancing. He received the Standing Up Taller Award at the White House by the National Endowment for the Arts and the President's Committee for the Arts and Humanities. Prior to his eleven year CSA residency, Wade served as an Artistic Director and dancer with Footpath Dance Company. Wade's work also includes collaborations with STOMP, Major League Baseball, Sea World of Ohio and the 1992 Winter Olympic Games and has been recognized both regionally and nationally on television, radio, magazines and newspapers. During the residency, Wade spent two weeks teaching modern dance to Ashtabula Arts Center and "Celebrate" students. "Celebrate" students have no access to this type of programming through normal school curriculum and have no formal exposure to dance education. The "Artist in Residence" program exposed Arts Center dancers to a dance form and technique with which they were unfamiliar. Wade taught dancers to "use their bling" in a Hawkins based modern technique class. While many of the dancers had never been exposed to the kinds of movements Wade was teaching, they enjoyed the learning process as they were pushed to achieve unfamiliar movements. At times, dancers were frustrated as they tried to pick up nuances of the dance steps. But Wade wasted no time in sharing his valuable "cheat notes" on the technical aspects of what he was teaching. As a part of his teaching process, Wade also spoke to young dancers about honesty and integrity in their approach to their work both in the classroom and on the stage. He told many stories illustrating what they need to do if they want to succeed in today's dance world. Each night, at the end of their three-hour class, Wade had students explore non-traditional partnering (made popular by the Pilobolus Dance Company) and improvisation. Non-traditional partnering made for some funny moments when smaller dancers were instructed to lift someone who outweighed them by twenty or more pounds. After concentration on the technical instructions and a bit of practice, dancers were able to do lifts that Wade had shown them regardless of who their partner was--even when females were lifting stronger and heavier males. During the residency, the group performed twice in Lakeside High School's Performing Arts Center. Arts Center patrons can see some of these wonderful and fascinating movements when Wade, Arts Center and Celebrate students perform together again on May 11th at the Ashtabula Arts Center during Ballet Theatre Ashtabula's Spring Dance Concert. Make your reservations now for this one-performance-only special event! |
Posted: Wednesday, June 20, 2007
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